What could be more appropriate for Halloween than a Horror book set on Halloween night?
Bram Stoker award-winning author Christopher Golden uses his considerable skills to write an accessible read, filled with iconic Halloween imagery and rituals. Set in Coventry, Massachusetts, in 1984, we’re definitely in Stranger Things territory, with all of the iconic Stephen King and John Carpenter themes used to create the setting. It’s small-town America, seemingly idealistic but like Peyton Place or Haddonfield, Illinois before it, clearly with issues below the surface.
Much of the first part of the book introduces us to the characters, with each short chapter being written from the perspective of a different person. There is a range here – young, teenager, adult, male, female. This creates variety in the delivery of the narrative and I was impressed by how Golden manages to give each character a distinct and individual tone.
The beginning captures what I suspect is the joy, the excitement, the anticipation of a typical Halloween night in America – albeit one set in the 1980s. (So no mobile phones to spoil things.)
Why are many of the characters so horrible? There are adulterous affairs, racism, bullying, sexism and paedophilia all on show here. Part of the reason I think is because, as a result, the reader wants these unpleasant people to suffer pain, torment, unpleasantness. It’s a sort of come-uppance for people who really deserve terrible fates.
It’s only about halfway in, once the setting and the characters have been established, for the creepy things really start to happen – disembodied voices, flickering lights, strange characters appearing.
We are told of the impending arrival of the Cunning Man, from the woods – although why he hasn’t been seen before this particular year isn’t clear.
The ending of the novel is appropriately gory and rather creepy. This one very much reminded me of early Stephen King in its evocation of small-town Americana and characterization, something that I’m sure Christopher Golden knew well. As someone from that time, the novel clearly taps into all those cheap and cheerful paperbacks and movies that proliferated after the success of Carrie in the 1980’s.
As a result, you pretty much know what you’re going to get with this sort of horror novel, and it helps that Golden’s an old hand at this sort of thing. With some lovely descriptions, characters you get to know and root for, and a typical setting for Halloween the readers pretty much get what they hope for. The important thing is that it doesn’t let you down as a reader, and the good news is that All Hallows doesn’t. All Hallows is a very readable, pleasingly creepy kind of novel that pretty much delivers what it promises, an American Halloween horror – and thus recommended for you at Halloween.
ALL HALLOWS by Christopher Golden
Published by Titan Books, September 2023
Review by Mark Yon
